Jury finds Cape Coral man guilty of murder

A jury has decided a Cape Coral man is guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of his neighbor in 2008.

Attorneys for 24-year-old Andrew Castor admit he stabbed 21-year-old Bianca Interiano. But they argued he's not guilty by reason of insanity.

After a three-day trial, jurors heard closing arguments this morning. Then they began deliberations.

He's also guilty of grand theft of a motor vehicle and burglary. It took the jury four hours to reach the decision.

The family of a Cape Coral woman finally has closure six years after she was killed. It's a verdict her family thought would never come.

"I was waiting for this day. I didn't know when it would happen, but it happened and now we can move on," said Aniutka Olavarria, the victim's sister.

"I'm just glad that this is over and now she can rest in peace," Olavarria said.

"Whatever he did to my daughter, he's being punished for the rest of his life," said Mike Serrano, the victim's father.

Evidence from that day was still difficult for the family to bare.

"Listening to when they were describing [was] hard for me, but it's over and we can close this chapter," Olavarria said.

The family said they have closure knowing the man who killed their daughter will spend his life in prison, but still they know a guilty verdict won't ever bring their daughter back.

"She wanted to be a teacher," Olavarria said.

"We miss her. We miss our daughter," Serrano said.

Castor will be sentenced March 3. The mandatory sentence is life in prison.

"Bianca Interiano is a woman who only had misfortune of living next to Andrew Castor and his ungovernable temper," said Assistant State Attorney Carrie Pollick.

In closing arguments, the prosecutors said Castor planned to kill his neighbor. They say he stalked Bianca, confronted her and dragged her to her bedroom where he murdered her.

"Three stab wounds to her heart. Did he mean to kill her? Yes," Pollick said.

Castor laid his head on the table during parts of the trial. The defense admits he killed Bianca, but it tried to prove he's not guilty by reason of insanity.

"There's no question, I'm telling you now as I told you then, he is guilty of killing this woman," said Defense Attorney Terence Lenamon. "You need to figure out if he was insane at the time of the killing."

His attorney urged the jury to look past the brutality of the crime to Castor's dysfunctional childhood -- and signs of mental issues. He wasn't yet talking at age five and as a teen Castor fed his neighbor's cat to an alligator.

"There were 26 stab wounds. That was a frantic and mentally unhinged man stabbing this woman for a distorted reason," Lenamon said.

But the state said even if Castor was mentally ill, the planning and the cover-up prove Castor knew what he was doing.

"Why did he put gloves on but no mask? Because there would be no witness left. It's chilling evidence," said Assistant State Attorney Bob Lee.

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